n6 



AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



price," Everitt argued that it should be possible to "remove agriculture 

 from the list of uncertain industries and place it on a basis of certainty for 

 prices equal to that enjoyed by the best regulated manufacturing or com- 

 mercial enterprises." Farming had become a business and it was high 

 time that farmers behaved as businessmen. Other businesses had discarded 

 competition in their quest for profits and had sought to "control the mar- 

 ket." They entered without scruple into combinations "to limit output, to 

 lift prices, to regulate wages, and to 'work' the government." It was up to 

 the farmers to adopt similar methods; they were just as much entitled to 

 fix prices as the manufacturers were more so, indeed, since agriculture 

 was the most important segment in our economy. "We might survive the 

 loss of our steel mills, but if our farms were to quit producing the country 

 would go to ruin. Why should not the farmers be supreme ? And if they 

 strive for something less than supremacy namely mere parity with the 

 rest of our people ought they not to be encouraged?" 9 



The structure and control of Equity was highly centralized, at least from 

 its beginning until the house cleaning of 1907. The official publication, 

 Up-To-Date Farming, remained in the private control and ownership of 

 Everitt; in fact, a subscription to the "official paper" was considered 

 adequate to bring one the full benefits of membership. For all practical 

 purposes, the national union consisted of a seven-man board of directors, 

 which was supposed to be in constant session. One did not have to belong 

 to a local union, but locals of ten or more members might be organized 

 by persons of "good moral character" who paid a membership fee of 

 $1.50 and annual dues of $1.00. Those under twenty-one or over seventy- 

 five and the wives of farmers were admitted free and paid no dues. 10 



Everitt and his paper, aided by the national board of directors, were 

 supposed to shape the marketing policies of the society and to serve as a 

 clearinghouse for agricultural information. A crop-reporting service was 

 an integral part of the marketing program. The secretaries of locals were 

 required to obtain annual reports on their crops from all members, al- 

 though the precise nature of these reports was not specific. On the basis 



9. Plan of the American Society of Equity, p. i; Everitt, The Third Power, third 

 edition, pp. 6, 9, 23-24, 71; fourth edition, p. vii. 



10. Bahmer, in Agricultural History, XIV (January, 1940), pp. 38, 40; Plan of the 

 American Society of Equity, p. i. 



